Michael DeMocker/The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans Hornets rookie Darren Collison said he learned a lot in Chris Paul's absence, but he is eager for the All-Star point guard to return.Having missed the Hornets’ last 25 games after Feb. 4 arthroscopic surgery to remove the torn portion of the meniscus cartilage in his left knee, Paul is tantalizingly close to getting medical clearance to resume playing this season.

Yet with the Hornets virtually assured of missing the postseason for the first time in three years, the question begs: Why risk allowing Paul to return for a handful of games that are essentially inconsequential?

The manner in which Collison has comported himself the past six weeks provides the necessary response.

New Orleans must see how these two will coexist in the same backcourt against playoff-caliber competition over the last three weeks of the season, teams that come into New Orleans beginning this week including Dallas tonight, though Paul isn’t expected to play, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday, the playoff-contending Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday, and the Los Angeles Lakers a week from today.

“It’ll give us a sample of games to look at and see how effective they may be together as far as moving forward,” Hornets Coach Jeff Bower said. “We’ll have that to use from an evaluation standpoint. I think we’re going to see things we really like and other things that would have us go in a more conventional approach. This is just going to be one thing we’re able to try. It’s not going to be an every-minute type thing. But it’s a nice option. The biggest thing is to have your most talented players on the floor playing together, being productive.”

Collison’s play as the starter while Paul has been sidelined has created rampant, essentially baseless, speculation that either Paul would be traded, or that Collison could be dangled to interested teams in the offseason because of a two’s-a-crowd mentality.

But the Hornets fully intend to continue using both players on the floor simultaneously as they did in 38 games before Paul was hurt, a pairing that will likely continue next season.

And Collison is ready to once again share the duties.

“It’ll be the same as it was before he got hurt; there’s not going to be anything different,” Collison said. “When he was playing, we had more depth on the bench. Now that we’ve traded some players, we should have increased time together.

“This has been good from an individual standpoint. I learned a lot. I wish we could have done things differently as a team obviously. But it’s all part of the experience. Everybody is saying things are going to be different like we haven’t played together before. But we have. It’s just going to be the same thing.”

Bower says the advantage of having both Paul and Collison in the lineup together will give the team additional time to evaluate just how this melding of talent could play itself out next season and beyond.

“We did it slightly before,” Bower said, “and it will give us two players who can put a great deal of pressure on our opponents both offensively and defensively with speed and quickness and the ability to get up and down the floor in our transition recovery as well as in our offensive attack.”

But there could be disadvantages as well, especially physical mismatches against taller off guards.

“We’ll have to see what develops,” Bower said, “but I think any problems that it presents will be offset by the advantages it creates as well. We’ll have to deal with it; take a look at it against bigger teams that may try to post-up our backcourt. But that’s normally going away from the strengths of the players that will be doing that.

“Many times teams try that (size mismatches). But it puts a player in an area of the floor where he’s not comfortable, and the advantage is minimized. But (Paul’s return) would give us an opportunity to continue to improve as a team. We have things we want to accomplish throughout this stretch of games as far as improvement as a team and it gives him an opportunity to come back and compete and go into the close of the season knowing that he’s fully recovered and ready to move forward.”

Exactly when that will occur, is still uncertain, though at some point this week, given the opponents, is most likely.

For Collison, it will mean his No. 1 fan will share in his court-time instead of providing encouragement from the bench.

“He’s been extremely important. He has a lot to do with my success,” Collison said of Paul. “He’s been helping me on and off the court. I thank him every day, and I’m blessed for it. That’s the person he is. He doesn’t have to do it, but he chooses to do it.”

Jimmy Smith can be reached at jsmith@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3814.